The momentum graph you shared shows it was pretty even game. Far from us being ‘battered’ and we certainly had our own moments where should’ve scored. Again, rewatch the highlights of the game, the showcased chances were predominantly from us.
If you think stats are meaningless, momentum graphs are less useful than things like xG. To highlight a few examples from recent games:
1) Stoke, we had the majority of ‘momentum’ but Stoke undoubtedly had the best chances particularly in the 1st half
2) Birmingham - more ‘momentum’ but we can all accept they had the better chances
3) Southampton - more momentum in the first half, scored but no real ‘clear cut chances’
The momentum graph for the Southampton 2nd half is what a battering looks like.
Whilst your point about there being statistics not telling the whole story, that’s actually true and I accept that. However, that applies to every player and there are contributions that won’t be credited. The best example last year was Simms, there were many times he occupied defenders for players to find space in the box for goals… Yet, the frustration with him last season was completely legitimate because as the stats showed, he was wasteful in front of goal and it wasn’t good enough. Ultimately, the data confirmed the majority of the criticisms against Simms.
To address your point about Sakamoto, the stats do not lie about him. Last season, I noticed a few things about him that bothered me, he checks back a lot, doesn’t take on players and is a low volume shooter. On the flip side, he is a good crosser of ball and contributes defensively and guess what? All of those opinions are corroborated by the data. Broadly speaking, he stands out in no statistical category and when he has a bad crossing game or the opposition nullifies this with a low block, he’s ineffectual. It’s why I’ve come to the conclusion that he is best used as an effective role player which ironically, his recent contributions are perhaps starting to prove my point.
That’s why Lampard has moved to sign wingers who are more aggressive when it comes dribbling because we come across the low block more often than not.